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1. Requirements
4.4.7 Each NASA Mission Directorate shall identify and document the specific measurement objectives, the chosen specific measures, the collection procedures, and storage and analysis procedures.
1.1 Notes
NPR 7150.2, NASA Software Engineering Requirements, does not include any notes for this requirement.
1.2 Applicability Across Classes
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2. RationaleEach Mission Directorate develops its own software measurement system (see SWE-095) and tailors it to its needs and objectives. The system is based on an understanding of the development environment used for executing its programs and projects. Increased understanding of software progress leads to better oversight of projects. Mission Directorate specified analysis procedures allow the synthesis of results across Centers and across performing organizations, and within programs composed of one or more projects. While much of the software measurement data and the checking and validation activities may be captured and performed at the project level, the information that is transmitted to the Mission Directorate is more readily used if it is provided in specified formats that allow the Mission Directorate to satisfy its review and oversight needs. Subsequent evaluation and interpretation of these software measurements enable the Mission Directorate to assess its current software status and engineering capabilities of providers for future work. |
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3. Guidance
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- Understand and model software engineering processes and products.
- Aid in the management of projects.
- Guide improvements in software engineering processes.
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The following information is a brief synopsis of the planning, collection, storage and analysis activities to be performed by the Mission Directorates.
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The guidance information presented in SWE-092, SWE-093, SWE-094, and SWE-095 for Center and project software measurement activities is meant to reflect the chosen Mission Directorate goals and objectives. |
The general approach and primary steps for the Mission Directorate and the subsequent project level software measurement are very similar, with only the major objectives and goals expected to be unique. The program and mission support offices at the Centers contribute to many Mission Directorate needs for leading indicators with assessments of their internal capabilities against the specified program and project goals and desired outcomes.
Proper execution of data collection necessitates an agreed-to plan for the software measurement program. The plan is based on the evaluation and interpretation of specified software measures that have been captured, validated and analyzed according to the approved procedures in the software measurement plan. The activities begin with clear information that includes:
- A description of all data to be provided.
- A precise definition of terms.
- A description of responsibilities for data provision and analyses.
- A description of time frames and responsibilities for reception of the data and analyses being provided.
The data collection efforts by the Centers, projects, and software development teams can produce more accurate results if the time to collect the data is minimized. If the data collectors and analysis providers see this as a non-value added task, data collection will become sporadic and analysis quality will suffer.
Activities within the data storage procedure include:
- A description of the checking, validation and verification (V&V) of the quality of the data sets collected. This includes checks for proper formats, logicalness, missing entries, repetitive entrees, typical value ranges (expect these to be oriented towards validation at the set level since individual data checking and validation will have been already performed at the project level).
- A description of what data sets, or intermediate analyses will be made and kept, or made and discarded (assuming the analyses can be reconstructed if needed). This includes a listing of requested analyses by Mission Directorate stakeholders, lists of continuing metrics, and descriptions of changes to the analyses to reflect advances in the software development life cycle.
- The identification of a proper storage system, and site and management steps to access, use, and control the data and its appropriate data base management system (DBMS). The use of a DBMS allows multiple projects and organizations to access the data in a format that supports their specific or organizational objectives.
Metrics (or indicators) are computed from measures using the Mission Directorate's analysis procedures. They are quantifiable indices used to compare software products, processes, or projects or to predict their outcomes. They show trends of increasing or decreasing values, relative only to the previous value of the same metric. They also show containment or breeches of pre-established limits, such as allowable latent defects.
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Note: Management metrics are measurements that help evaluate how well software development activities are performing across multiple Centers, development organizations, programs or projects. Trends in management metrics support forecasts of future progress, early trouble detection, and realism in plan adjustments of all candidate approaches that are quantified and analyzed. |
Additional guidance related to software measurement determination, collection, analysis, and reporting may be found in the following related requirements in this handbook that are written from the project development point of view.
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Measurement Objectives
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Measurement Selection
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Measurement Collection and Storage
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Analysis of Measurement Data
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Reporting of Measurement Analysis
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Directorate Measurement System
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Software Metrics Report
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4. Small ProjectsThis SWE requirement indirectly applies to projects, in that a project's software data feeds into the Mission Directorate's measurement system. The amount of data needed by Mission Directorates to monitor software risks on small projects is likely to be considerably less than for larger projects. |
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5. Resources
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6. Lessons Learned
A documented lesson from the NASA Lessons Learned database notes the following:
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